Islam as a Platform for Politics
Why, in the aftermath of 9/11, did a segment of the U.S. popular security experts, political elite, media, and other institutions classify not just al-Qaeda but Islam itself as a security threat, thereby countering the prevailing professional consensus and White House policy that maintained a...
Guardado en:
| Autor principal: | |
|---|---|
| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | EN |
| Publicado: |
International Institute of Islamic Thought
2016
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/f9889f5e748b4d4689838dd8550de9b9 |
| Etiquetas: |
Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
|
| id |
oai:doaj.org-article:f9889f5e748b4d4689838dd8550de9b9 |
|---|---|
| record_format |
dspace |
| spelling |
oai:doaj.org-article:f9889f5e748b4d4689838dd8550de9b92021-12-02T17:46:16ZIslam as a Platform for Politics10.35632/ajis.v33i2.2132690-37332690-3741https://doaj.org/article/f9889f5e748b4d4689838dd8550de9b92016-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/213https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3733https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3741 Why, in the aftermath of 9/11, did a segment of the U.S. popular security experts, political elite, media, and other institutions classify not just al-Qaeda but Islam itself as a security threat, thereby countering the prevailing professional consensus and White House policy that maintained a distinction between terrorism and Islam? Why did this “politically incorrect” or counternarrative expand and degenerate into a scare over the country’s “Islamization” by its tiny Muslim population? Why is this security myth so convincing that legislators in two dozen states introduced bills to prevent the Shariah’s spread and a Republican presidential front-runner exclaimed: “I believe Shariah is a mortal threat to the survival of freedom in the United States and in the world as we know it”? This analysis offers a framework that conceptualizes popular discourses as highly interested fields of political struggle, deepens the prevailing characterization of this part of the U.S. popular discourse as “Islamophobia,” and analyzes how it has functioned politically at the domestic level. Specifically, it examines how a part of the conservative elite and institutions, political entrepreneurs already involved in the ongoing culture wars, seized upon Islam in the emotion-laden wake of 9/11 as another opportune site to advance their struggle against their domestic political opponents, “the Left,” and the more progressive societal institutions and culture in general. David BeltInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtarticleIslamBP1-253ENAmerican Journal of Islam and Society, Vol 33, Iss 2 (2016) |
| institution |
DOAJ |
| collection |
DOAJ |
| language |
EN |
| topic |
Islam BP1-253 |
| spellingShingle |
Islam BP1-253 David Belt Islam as a Platform for Politics |
| description |
Why, in the aftermath of 9/11, did a segment of the U.S. popular security experts, political elite, media, and other institutions classify not just al-Qaeda but Islam itself as a security threat, thereby countering the prevailing professional consensus and White House policy that maintained a distinction between terrorism and Islam?
Why did this “politically incorrect” or counternarrative expand and degenerate into a scare over the country’s “Islamization” by its tiny Muslim population? Why is this security myth so convincing that legislators in two dozen states introduced bills to prevent the Shariah’s spread and a Republican presidential front-runner exclaimed:
“I believe Shariah is a mortal threat to the survival of freedom in the United States and in the world as we know it”? This analysis offers a framework that conceptualizes popular discourses as highly interested fields of political struggle, deepens the prevailing characterization of this part of the U.S. popular discourse as “Islamophobia,” and analyzes how it has functioned politically at the domestic level. Specifically, it examines how a part of the conservative elite and institutions, political entrepreneurs already involved in the ongoing culture wars, seized upon Islam in the emotion-laden wake of 9/11 as another opportune site to advance their struggle against their domestic political opponents, “the Left,” and the more progressive societal institutions and culture in general.
|
| format |
article |
| author |
David Belt |
| author_facet |
David Belt |
| author_sort |
David Belt |
| title |
Islam as a Platform for Politics |
| title_short |
Islam as a Platform for Politics |
| title_full |
Islam as a Platform for Politics |
| title_fullStr |
Islam as a Platform for Politics |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Islam as a Platform for Politics |
| title_sort |
islam as a platform for politics |
| publisher |
International Institute of Islamic Thought |
| publishDate |
2016 |
| url |
https://doaj.org/article/f9889f5e748b4d4689838dd8550de9b9 |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT davidbelt islamasaplatformforpolitics |
| _version_ |
1718379565093486592 |